Saturday, June 16, 2012

Chronozoom is an open source community project dedicated to visualizing Big History. Its zoomable interface is a good application of a ZUI (Zoomable User Interface). The economist writes:

With ZUIs (pronounced zoo-ees), information need not be chopped up to fit on uniformly sized slides. Instead, text, images and even video sit on a single, limitless surface and can be viewed at whatever size makes most sense—up close for details, or zoomed out for the big picture. The presentation software designed by Prezi, a firm based in Budapest, Hungary, is based on this kind of “infinite canvas”, as its founder, Peter Halacsy, calls it. For example, a naturalist delivering a presentation on giraffe habitats can tuck tables on, say, the nutritional qualities of foliage into the leaves of different tree species seen in satellite imagery of a savanna. The data could be left hidden for a talk to schoolchildren, or zoomed in on and revealed for an audience of scientists. Before giving a talk, a presenter can pick waypoints on the canvas to be visited in sequence by pressing a button, with smooth pans, zooms and rotations from one to the next.

Raskin, SketchHub and Grape are other ZUIs--Florian Gunther maintains a good list of them here.

Chronozoom is funded and supported by Microsoft Research Connections in collaboration with University California at Berkeley and Moscow State University.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

By definition, it is hard to comprehend other orders of magnitude--their very label "order of magnitude" points to their otherness and separateness. But the news is full of information from other orders of magnitude. To serve their readers, journalists and other authors recruit metaphors to explain this information from foreign scales.

A staff writer in the Economist's special report on nuclear reactors used such metaphors to explain the power of gigawatt reactors:

The energy output of that first reactor was tiny: just half a watt.
Today’s most powerful reactors produce ten billion times as much energy
in the form of heat, about a third of which can be converted into
electricity. Five gigawatts is an amount beyond easy comprehension, the
daily equivalent of the energy given off by six bombs like the one that
destroyed Hiroshima.

The math seems wrong to me, here. A 5 GW plant in a day yields 4.32 x 10^14 Joules. According to the Manhattan Project memorial site, the Little Boy Hiroshima bomb yielded 15 kilotons of explosive energy, or 6.276 x 10^16 Joules. So a 5 GW plant, in a day, releases the energy of 2/3rds of a Hiroshima bomb.

The Hiroshima Bomb has become a defacto unit of measurement for comparisons like this. Unfortunately, the scale is radically different. The bomb completed its energy release in under a second, while a power plant works for billions of seconds; the bomb radiated energy in all directions while powerplant energy is measured only as per the useful energy generated in a wire, and so on.

The author then uses similar metaphors to describe the rapid historical growth of nuclear technology.

If flights had lasted a billion times longer 70 years after the
Wright brothers’ first one took off, they would have gone a thousand
times round the world and taken centuries; a billion times faster, and
they would have run up against the speed of light. Even at the heady
rates of progress that Moore’s law ascribes to the computer industry
(stating that the number of transistors on a chip doubles roughly every
two years), things take 60 years to get a billion times better.

This is an innovative comparison, and works due to the nature of "a billion." People are often surprised that a billion seconds takes over 31 years to elapse. Again, the change in scale is poorly understood.

NOTE: This post starts a new series of posting metaphors, with our commentary or critique. If you read an interesting metaphor that stands out either for its clarity or confusion, send it to me, scalometer at gmail dot com.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Cary Huang has added many more objects to the htwins.net flash application.

To increase traffic for Huang and enable more people to participate, I list below the objects, their sizes, and Huang's comments. Huang, if you are reading this, send your email, so people can send you ideas, corrections, etc. And thanks for the great application!

Exponent

Mantissa

Sci. Notation

Value

Object

Commentary by Huang

27

1.6

1.6 x 10^27

At least 160 billion light-years

The Estimated Size of the Universe

The Universe is everything we know. We knownothing of what lies beyond! Oh, also, the universe may be much larger thanthis. There's just no way to accurately measure the size.

26

9.3

9.3 x 10^26

93 billion light-years

Observable Universe

The radius is about 46 billion ly (half of thediameter). You might expect to only see 13.7 billion ly away because lighthas had only 13.7 billion years to travel, but due to the expansion of space,the objects that used to be 13.7 billion ly away are now 46 billion ly away,and we can see these.

26

1.27

1.27 x 10^26

12.7 billion light-years

Distance to the Hubble DeepField

The Hubble Space Telescope took a picture ofan empty spot in the night sky. Instead of nothingness, the image had almost3,000 objects in it – distant galaxies. It's unknown where these galaxies arenow, but where they were 12.7 billion years ago is 12.7 billion light-yearsaway from us.

25

3.3

3.3 x 10^25

3.3 billion light-years

Parsec

A gigaparsec is one billion parsecs. It is oneof the largest measures of distance. There's really no need to have anymeasure larger, because the radius of the observable universe is only 14gigaparsecs.

25

1.3

1.3 x 10^25

1.3 billion light-years

Sloan Great Wall

The Sloan Great Wall is represented by thethick green band. It is the largest known object in the universe. It is madeup of galaxies, and is called a galactic filament. We are not in it. In fact,it lies about one billion light-years from us.

25

1

1 x 10^25

1 billion light-years

Pisces-Cetus SuperclusterComplex

We actually live in the Pisces- CetusSupercluster Complex. It is the second largest object known, after the SloanGreat Wall. I guess second place is pretty good.

24

6.5

6.5 x 10^24

650 million light-years

Distance to the ShapleySupercluster

The Shapley Supercluster is a supercluster ofgalaxies. It is one of the largest objects that collapses inward; anythinglarger expands with the universe.

24

5

5 x 10^24

500 million light-years

Eridanus Supervoid

It's a region in the night sky that's slightlycooler than the normal CMB temperature. It's 2.7° K, or -270.5° C. Barelyabove absolute zero. One theory says it leads to a parallel universe. Whoa!

24

2.5

2.5 x 10^24

250 million light-years

Distance to the GreatAttractor

The Great Attractor is pulling thousands ofgalaxies, including the Milky Way, towards itself. Its mass is tens ofthousands of times greater than the Milky Way's.

24

1.1

1.1 x 10^24

110 million light-years

Virgo Supercluster

The Virgo Supercluster contains over 100galactic clusters. The largest is the Virgo Cluster. We are in the outskirtsof this supercluster! There are millions of other superclusters.

24

1

Yottameter (Ym) (Diameter)

Yottameter (Ym) (Diameter)

23

3

3 x 10^23

30 million light-years

Virgo Cluster

The Virgo Cluster is the largest cluster inthe Virgo Supercluster, and is at its center. It was discovered in the late1770s when its galaxies were catalogued as Messier objects.

23

2

2 x 10^23

20 million light-years

Fornax Cluster

We live in the Virgo Supercluster. We'reactually part of a small filament extending off of the Fornax Cluster. It'sthe second largest cluster within 100 million light-years!

23

1

1 x 10^23

10 million light-years

Local Group

The Local Group is the cluster of galaxiesthat we live in. It contains about thirty galaxies and dwarf galaxies. Thetwo largest galaxies are the Andromeda Galaxy and our own, the Milky Way.

22

6

6 x 10^22

6 million light-years

Abell 2029

Abell 2029 is a galactic cluster one billionlight-years away in the constellation Serpens. Its central galaxy, which isIC 1101, is almost as large as it is. It emits 2 trillion times as much lightas the Sun does. (About 10 39 lightbulbs)

22

5

5 x 10^22

5 million light-years

IC 1101

IC 1101 is the largest known galaxy. Itcontains about 100 trillion stars. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has only 250billion, so IC 1101 has 400 times more stars than the Milky Way.

22

2

2 x 10^22

2 million light-years

Distance to the AndromedaGalaxy

At two million light-years away, the AndromedaGalaxy is the most distant object visible to the naked eye. However, withoutbinoculars or a telescope, it will appear as a dim blur.

21

10

10^21^ x 3

300,000 light-years

Tadpole Galaxy

The tadpole galaxy has a trail of stars. Theywere probably formed when another galaxy collided into it. Just liketadpoles, the Tadpole Galaxy is expected to lose its tail as it gets older.

21

5

5 x 10^21

500,000 light-years

NGC 4889

This very large galaxy, which is also known asCaldwell 35, is the brightest galaxy in the Coma cluster. It is going awayfrom us at 6,500 kilometers per second. At that speed, it couldcircumnavigate the Earth in less than seven seconds!

21

4.5

4.5 x 10^21

450,000 light-years

The Distance Earth HasTravelled (Relative to Sun)

Earth has travelled almost half a millionlight-years relative to the Sun since its formation. (That's 4.5 billionyears and 4.5 billion orbits.) Travelling at 110,000 km/h, Earth is 10,000times slower than the speed of light.

21

2.5

2.5 x 10^21

250,000 light-years

Virgo A

Virgo A is the largest galaxy in the VirgoCluster. It's a supergiant elliptical galaxy. Did you know that the blackhole at its center is flinging out a jet of subatomic matter 5,000light-years long?

21

2.2

2.2 x 10^21

220,000 light-years

NGC 1232

NGC 1232 is a pretty big galaxy. It's biggerthan ours, but it's not the biggest. Of course, IC 1101 is not the biggestgalaxy, it's only the biggest galaxy we know of. There are probably manymore!

21

1.8

1.8 x 10^21

180,000 light-years

Whirlpool Galaxy

The spiral arms in the Whirlpool Galaxy werebelieved to have been formed from a collision of a nearby galaxy. Wouldn't itbe odd if you grew new arms whenever you collided into something?

21

1.7

1.7 x 10^21

170,000 light-years

Pinwheel Galaxy

When this galaxy was first discovered, it wasbelieved to be a nebula. It's not; it's a galaxy. It's also called Messier101, because it was the 101 st Messier object to be catalogued.

21

1.5

1.5 x 10^21

150,000 light-years

Andromeda Galaxy

The Andromeda Galaxy is the Milky Way's twin.It's the nearest galaxy that is a similar size and shape. In a few billionyears, the two galaxies will collide and form one larger elliptical galaxy -Milkomeda.

21

1.5

1.5 x 10^21

150,000 light-years

Cartwheel Galaxy

Astronomers think the Cartwheel Galaxy had acollision with two nearby galaxies 200 million years ago. Actually, 700million years ago, because the Cartwheel Galaxy is 500 million light-yearsaway, so what we see of it is already 500 million years old.

21

1.2

1.2 x 10^21

120,000 light-years

Milky Way Galaxy

The Milky Way is the galaxy we live in. Youcan't see the whole thing at once, of course, but on a dark night you mightbe able see a streak that spans the whole sky! It looks milky, so it's theMilky Way.

21

1

Zettameter (Zm) (Diameter)

Zettameter (Zm) (Diameter)

20

5

5 x 10^20

50,000 light-years

Sombrero Galaxy

Do you think the Sombrero Galaxy looks like asombrero? I'm not sure. Oh! Did you know that there is a supermassive blackhole in the center of this galaxy? Most large galaxies have supermassiveblack holes. Our Milky Way might!

20

5

5 x 10^20

50,000 light-years

Triangulum Galaxy

This galaxy is not shaped like a triangle;it's just called that because it is found in the constellation Triangulum.Did you realize that any three stars form a "triangleconstellation"? You could have millions of triangle constellations!

20

2.2

2.2 x 10^20

22,000 light-years

NGC 3310

NGC 3310 is another one of those galaxies thathave collided with other galaxies, altering their shape. It is a spiralgalaxy that has very beautiful arms and is over 40 million light-years away.

20

1.4

1.4 x 10^20

14,000 light-years

Large Magellanic Cloud

The Large Magellanic Cloud is only calledlarge because it is larger than the galaxy nearest to it, the SmallMagellanic Cloud. If the Small Magellanic Cloud were larger, the LargeMagellanic Cloud would be called the Smaller Magellanic Cloud!

20

1

1 x 10^20

10,000 light-years

Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy

The Sagittarius is one of the Milky Way'ssatellite galaxies. It is only 70,000 light-years distant! It is anelliptical galaxy, and a dwarf one as well. It was not discovered until 1994.

19

7

7 x 10^19

7,000 light-years

Small Magellanic Cloud

The Small Magellanic Cloud is only calledsmall because it is smaller than the galaxy nearest to it, the LargeMagellanic Cloud. If the Large Magellanic Cloud were smaller, the SmallMagellanic Cloud would be called the Large Magellanic Cloud!

19

6.5

6.5 x 10^19

6,500 light-years

Canes Venatici Dwarf Galaxy I

The Canes Venatici Dwarf Galaxy I is 720,000light-years away from us. If you zoom out to that scale, the galaxy will be acouple pixels across.

19

5

5 x 10^19

5,000 light-years

Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy

The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is the nearestgalaxy, if you don't count the Milky Way itself. It lies between the arms ofthe Milky Way and is being pulled apart by the gravity of the Milky Way.

19

2

2 x 10^19

2,000 light-years

Leo II Dwarf Galaxy

The Leo II Dwarf Galaxy is a satellite of theMilky Way Galaxy. It is one of twenty-four known satellites of the Milky Way.The stars in Leo II are metal-poor. They're also relatively old.

18

6

6 x 10^18

600 light-years

Tarantula Nebula

The Tarantula Nebula is the largest knownnebula. It can be found in the Large Magellanic cloud. It's very bright, withan absolute magnitude is -11. It is the brightest non-stellar object known.

18

3

3 x 10^18

300 light-years

Barnard's Loop

Barnard's Loop is a huge nebula and is only1,600 light-years away. It covers 10 degrees of the sky (which is a lot). Itspans over most of the constellation Orion! However, it's so faint you canonly see it on dark nights, or with long exposure times. So sad.

18

3

3 x 10^18

300 light-years

Messier 54

Messier 54, or M54, or NGC 6715, is anotherglobular cluster. It is in the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy, which would meanit's the first globular cluster outside of the Milky Way to be discovered.

18

1.5

1.5 x 10^18

150 light-years

Omega Centauri

Omega Centauri is a globular cluster. It isthe brightest globular cluster. The center is very crowded. Stars there are0.1 light-years apart, which is 2% of the distance from our Sun to thenearest star. (That is really close!)

18

1.1

1.1 x 10^18

110 light-years

Lagoon Nebula

The Lagoon Nebula is a nebula that was namedthe Lagoon Nebula in 1747, the year it was discovered. It is 5,000light-years away from us and includes tornadoes that emit UV light.

18

1

Exameter (Em) (Diameter)

Exameter (Em) (Diameter)

18

1

1 x 10^18

100 light-years

Rosette Nebula

The Rosette Nebula is very large, but veryfaint. It looks like a fiery rose and a rosy fire. It's approximately 5,000light-years away from us and has a mass of 10,000 Suns. (3 billion Earths)

17

7

7 x 10^17

70 light-years

Cave Nebula

The Cave Nebula is a very diffuse nebula. Ofcourse, most nebulae as large as this one are faint, so you need longexposure times to see them. The Cave Nebula is also called Sh2-155 orCaldwell 9.

17

7

7 x 10^17

70 light-years

Eagle Nebula

The Eagle Nebula is a huge stellar nursery.Can you see the Pillars of Creation within it? Also, note that this image isbased off of a false- color photograph. In true color, it's a bit morepinkish (as most large nebulae are).

17

6

6 x 10^17

60 light-years

Great Nebula in Carina

This is also called the Eta Carinae Nebula,which is not be confused with Eta Carinae's Homunculus Nebula (which isprobably too small to see right now. It's 0.002 light-years across).

17

4

4 x 10^17

40 light-years

North America Nebula

The apparent size of the North America Nebulais very large. It appears almost four times as large as a full moon. It'sjust very dim... so... you know...you need longer exposure times to see it.

17

2.5

2.5 x 10^17

24 light-years

Orion Nebula

The Orion Nebula is one of the most visiblenebulae ever! As the name suggests, it lies in the constellation Orion. Didyou know that bullets of gas exist in this nebula?

17

2

2 x 10^17

20 light-years

The Spire

This little thingy is a part of the muchlarger Eagle Nebula. Even though it appears small in comparison to the EagleNebula, it's still larger than the solar system, by 10 - 20,000 times,depending on your definition of our Solar System.

17

1.1

1.1 x 10^17

11 light-years

Crab Nebula

The Crab Nebula is one of the most famousnebulae. It was also the first Messier object catalogued (M1)! The CrabNebula's supernova was seen in 1054 AD and was so bright it could be seenduring the day. It isn't even 1,000 years old!

17

1

1 x 10^17

10 light-years

The Pillars of Creation

The Pillars of Creation lie within the EagleNebula. The Eagle Nebula is 7,000 light-years away from us. Evidence showsthat the Pillars of Creation were destroyed by a supernova about 6,000 yearsago, so we only have another millennium to see it.

16

8

8 x 10^16

8 light-years

Cone Nebula

The Cone Nebula was discovered in 1785, on theday after Christmas. Did you know that the Cone Nebula is a dark nebula and adiffuse nebula? You can find it between Betelgeuse and Procyon.

16

7

7 x 10^16

7 light-years

Bubble Nebula

I love blowing bubbles. Blub-blub, pop! Thisnebula is not a bubble; it just looks like one! It was created by hot stellarwind. Oh, and it's an emission nebula, not a planetary nebula.

16

4.2

4.2 x 10^16

4.2 light-years

Distance from the Sun toProxima Centauri

Proxima Centauri is the closest star to theSun. However, it is still quite far away. 30 million Suns could fit betweenProxima Centauri and the Sun in a straight line.

16

3.3

3.3 x 10^16

3.3 light-years

Parsec

A parsec is a unit of length. The movement ofthe Earth orbiting around the Sun causes nearby stars to appear to move,called parallax. If a nearby star is perpendicular to the solar system and isexactly one parsec away, its parallax will be exactly one arcsecond, or1/3600 of a degree. Parallax + Arcsec = Parsec

16

3

3 x 10^16

3 light-years

Helix Nebula

The Helix Nebula is one of the closest brightplanetary nebulae to Earth. It is 400 light-years away from Earth! That'sonly four quadrillion (4,000,000,000,000,000) kilometers! (That is close,astronomically speaking.)

16

2.1

2.1 x 10^16

2.1 light-years

Boomerang Nebula

The Boomerang Nebula is very cold, only onedegree above absolute zero (-272° C)! That is colder than backgroundradiation. Did you know the Boomerang Nebula is the coldest known object inthe universe?

16

2

2 x 10^16

2 light-years

Ant Nebula

The Ant Nebula, which is also called Mz 3, isexpanding 180,000 kilometers per hour. It resembles an ant, so much so thatit is named after an ant. For more about ants, zoom in 18 orders ofmagnitude.

16

2

2 x 10^16

2 light-years

Eskimo Nebula

The Eskimo Nebula was discovered in 1787 andis the result of a Sun-like star exploding. It supposedly looks like a headin the hood of a parka. Another name is the Clownhead Nebula.

16

2

2 x 10^16

2 light-years

Horsehead Nebula

The Horsehead Nebula is one of the mostfamouse nebulae because it looks like a horse's head. It's a dark nebula infront of glowing pink gas. It was first discovered in 1888. Do you like allthose 8's? I do.

16

2

2 x 10^16

2 light-years

Oort Cloud

The Oort Cloud is the outermost region of thesolar system. Water ice, ammonia ice, methane ice and comets loosely fill theregion. The boundary of the Oort Cloud is also the boundary of the Sun'sgravitational pull.

16

1.7

1.7 x 10^16

1.7 light-years

Ring Nebula

The Ring Nebula looks a lot like a ring. Theold belief was that all planetary nebulae were ring- shaped like this one,but that is now known to not be true. There are other shapes planetarynebulae can be.

16

1.4

1.4 x 10^16

1.4 light-years

Rotten Egg Nebula

The Rotten Egg Nebula has sulfur in it. That'sprobably why this nebula is called the Rotten Egg Nebula. I think it looks abit like a raw egg, where the blue is the cracked shell and the yellow is theyolk spilling out.

15

9.46

9.46 x 10^15

9.46 trillion kilometers

Light-Year

In one year, light travels about 9.46 trillionkilometers. This distance is known as a light-year. The light-year iscommonly used for measuring astronomical distances.

15

4.5

4.5 x 10^15

4 trillion kilometers (0.4 light-years)

Blinking Nebula

The Blinking Nebula is a planetary nebula thatdoesn't actually blink. It just seems to appear and disappear from view.There are two red FLIERs (Fast Low- Ionization Emission Regions) on oppositeside of the nebula.

15

3

3 x 10^15

3 trillion kilometers (0.3 light-years)

Hourglass Nebula

The Hourglass Nebula is actually shaped likean hourglass. As you can see, there are two lobes. The upper lobe is tilitedtoward us, and the bottom one is tilted away.

15

2.5

2.5 x 10^15

2.5 trillion kilometers(0.25 light-years)

Cat's Eye Nebula

The Cat's Eye Nebula is one of the mostcomplex nebulae known. Did you know that the Cat's Eye Nebula is 8,000° C?That's pretty hot! The outer halo is even hotter, at 15,000° C.

15

2.5

2.5 x 10^15

2.5 trillion kilometers(0.25 light-years)

Gomez's Hamburger

Gomez's Hamburger is 900 light- years away!The buns are made of reflective dust, and the patty is made of dark dust.That does not sound very appetizing.

15

1.5

1.5 x 10^15

1.5 trillion kilometers (0.15 light-years)

Distance from Proxima Centaurito Alpha Centauri A

Proxima Centauri is very far away from AlphaCentauri A & B.

15

1

Petameter (Pm) (Diameter)

Petameter (Pm) (Diameter)

14

7

7 x 10^14

700 billion kilometers(0.07light-years)

Stingray Nebula

The Sting Ray Nebula is a planetary nebula. Itis relatively young, and it constantly growing. Whoever named this nebulamust have thought it looked like a stingray. Do you?

14

1.4

1.4 x 10^14

140 billion kilometers(0.014 light-years)

Distance from Sedna to Sun(farthest)

When Sedna is the farthest from the Sun, it isvery far away. This point is called the "aphelion"! It takes Sednaover 10,000 Earth years to complete one orbit.

13

5.5

5.5 x 10^13

55 billion kilometers (0.006 light-years)

Distance from Comet Hale-Boppto Sun (farthest)

The comet Hale-Bopp gets very far from the Sun.It takes 2,500 years to orbit once.

13

2.6

2.6 x 10^13

26 billion kilometers (0.003 light-years)

Light-Day

Even in just twenty-four hours, light managesto zoom across the distance of 26 billion kilometers. That is distance isfurther than any human or space probe has travelled.

13

2

10^13

20 billion kilometers (0.002 light-years)

Homunculus Nebula

At the center of the Homunculus Nebula lies astar. The star, which is Eta Carinae, had a magnitude of -0.8 in 1841 (secondbrightest star in the sky). Now, it is a very dim sixth-magnitude star.

13

1.7

1.7 x 10^13

17 billion kilometers (0.002 light-years)

Distance from Voyager 1 toEarth

Over the last 34 years, Voyager 1 hastravelled to a distance of 17 billion kilometers, which is the furthest anyman-made object has gone. You can't see it, even if you stare really, reallyhard!

13

1.5

1.5 x 10^13

15 billion kilometers (0.0015 light-years)

Kuiper Belt

The Kuiper Belt is a region of the SolarSystem outside the orbit of Neptune where small bodies orbit. Many dwarfplanets exist here. It's like a larger asteroid belt.

12

4.5

4.5 x 10^12

4.5 billion kilometers

Distance from Neptune to Sun

Neptune is the most distant planet in thesolar system. The distance from Neptune to the Sun is greater than thediameter of any known star!

12

3

3 x 10^12

3 billion kilometers

VY Canis Majoris

VY Canis Majoris is the largest known star. Itis so large that if it were placed in the Solar System, it would extendbeyond the orbit of Saturn! It would take a plane 1,200 years to circle itonce.

12

2.8

2.8 x 10^12

2.8 billion kilometers

WOH G64

I know... you're thinking, "WOH... that'sa big star!" Well, I guess you're right, because currently it's thesecond largest known star. WOH G64 is found in the Large Magellanic Cloud.There is a cloud surrounding the star that extends half of a light-year.

12

2.4

20 million kilometers

V V Cephei A, B

For a while V V Cephei A was the largest knownstar. Now that title belongs to VY Canis Majoris.

12

2.1

2.1 x 10^12

2.1 billion kilometers

V354 Cephei

V354 Cephei is red supergiant, and it's huge.If placed in the Solar System, it would extend past the orbit of Jupiter.354, in addition to being in this star's name, is also the year Augustine ofHippo was born.

12

2

2 x 10^12

2 billion kilometers

KY Cygni

KY Cygni is 300,000 times more luminous thanthe Sun, and the Sun is pretty luminous, isn't it? The Sun is so luminous youaren't supposed to look at it! However, it's okay to look at KY Cyngi becauseit is 300 million times farther away.

12

1.9

1.9 x 10^12

1.9 billion kilometers

Mu Cephei

Mu Cephei is very red. It is sometimesreferred to as "Herschel's Garnet Star" because it is garnet red.Another alternative name is Erakis, if you don't like the first two names.

12

1.3

1.3 x 10^12

1.3 billion kilometers

Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse's age is in the millions of years.Betelgeuse is so old, it is expected to explode in the next ten thousandyears. Smaller stars live for trillions of years. Betelgeuse is so big itaged fast.

12

1

Terameter (Tm) (Diameter)

Terameter (Tm) (Diameter)

11

9.7

9.7 x 10^11

970 million kilometers

Antares

Antares is a red supergiant very near theecliptic, so it gets occulted by the Moon quite often. Also, Antares weighsseptillions of tons and is losing weight through solar wind, but this methodis slow. The fast way is to explode, which it'll do later.

11

7.7

7.7 x 10^11

770 million kilometers

S Doradus

S Doradus is a hypergiant, as well as one ofthe brightest stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. For more about the LargeMagellanic Cloud, zoom out 8.5 orders of magnitude.

11

5.2

5.2 x 10^11

520 million kilometers

R Doradus

R Doradus is relatively large and is only 200light-years from Earth, so its apparent size is the second largest in thesky! It is 0.05 arcseconds across. The Sun is the largest, at 1,920arcseconds - 40,000 times larger.

11

4.7

4.7 x 10^11

470 million kilometers

Pistol Star

The Pistol Star is one of the most luminousstars known. In twenty seconds, it radiates as much energy as the Sun does ina year. It's invisible because of interstellar dust in the way. It is calledthe Pistol Star not because of its luminosity, but because it's in the PistolNebula.

11

4.2

4.2 x 10^11

420 million kilometers

La Superba

La Superba is one of the reddest stars in thenight sky. It is so red because of all the carbon-13 it creates when fusinghelium. (Normal carbon is carbon-12.) La Superba is only 2500° C, making itone of the coldest stars.

11

3.1

3.1 x 10^11

310 million kilometers

Deneb

Deneb is the brightest star in theconstellation of Cygnus. Deneb is 1,500 light-years away, which makes it themost distant of the 25 brightest stars. If you lived on Mars, Deneb wouldappear above the North Pole - not Polaris.

11

2.1

2.1 x 10^11

210 million kilometers

Enif

Enif is an orange supergiant. Its name means"nose" in Arabic, because in the constellation Pegasus, it is inthe position of the muzzle. Concidentally, the word "Enif"backwards is "Fine".

11

1.6

1.6 x 10^11

160 million kilometers

Gacrux

Gacrux can be found in the constellation Crux.Crux, which means "cross" in Latin, is known as the Southern Cross.Gacrux is a binary star. The largest of the two is a red giant.

11

1.5

1.5 x 10^11

150 million kilometers

Distance from Earth to Sun

During the day, the Sun doesn't seem so faraway. It's actually about 150 million kilometers away. That distance is anAstronomical Unit, which is called an AU for short.

10

9.7

9.7 x 10^10

97 million kilometers

Rigel

Rigel is a blazing blue star, and thebrightest star in the constellation of Orion. It lies near the equator, so itis visible from almost anywhere on Earth. Also, don't call it"wriggle", because it's pronounced like "rye-jel".

10

8.4

8.4 x 10^10

84 million kilometers

Alnitak

Alnitak illuminates the Flame Nebula. Alnitakis also the easternmost star of the three stars that form Orion's belt. Theother two are Alnilam and Mintaka, and all three appear very bright fromplanet Earth.

10

6

6 x 10^10

60 million kilometers

Aldebaran

Aldebaran is not to be confused with Alderaan,which is a planet in Star Wars. Alderaan is very similar to Earth in size,day length, and water cover. However, Aldebaran is 5,000 times larger indiameter, rotates every 643 Earth days, and has no water on the surface.

10

4

4 x 10^10

40 million kilometers

Polaris

Polaris is known as the North Star. It is verynear the north pole, so if you want to know which way is north, just try tofind Polaris. Locate the two stars on the far side of the Big Dipper, and goupward.

10

3.6

3.6 x 10^10

36 million kilometers

Arcturus

Arcturus is the third brightest star in thenight sky, after Sirius and Canopus. It's the brightest star in theconstellation of Boötes. Find it by following the handle of the Big Dipper.

10

2.2

2.2 x 10^10

22 million kilometers

Albireo

Albireo is made up of three stars total. Herewe are just showing the largest one. Two of the stars are close, and form ayellow dot. The third is blue and further away. The blue star and yellowstars are so far apart it takes them 100,000 years to complete one orbit.

10

1.7

1.7 x 10^10

17 million kilometers

Capella

Capella is actually a binary star. Both starsare type-G giant stars. The larger one is the one you see to the left. TheSun is also a type-G star, but it's a main- sequence one.

10

1.1

1.1 x 10^10

11 million kilometers

Pollux

In Greek mythology, Pollux's twin is Castor.They are also stars in the constellation Gemini, meaning "twins".However, in reality, Pollux in a single star, while Castor is three binarystars, for a total of six stars. Castor is a set of sextuplets!

9

9.6

9.6 x 10^9

9.6 million kilometers

Spica

Spica is the fifteenth brightest star in thenight sky and lies in the constellation Virgo. It's actually a binary starsystem. The two stars are very close, and they orbit every four days.

9

5.8

5.8 x 10^9

5.8 million kilometers

Regulus

Regulus spins so quickly it bulges, just likeAltair and Vega. If Regulus were to spin 16% faster, it would rip apart!Regulus is also the brightest star in the constellation Leo. There's alsoRegulus B & C.

9

3.8

3.8 x 10^9

3.8 million kilometers

Vega

Vega is found in the Lyra constellation. It isalso part of the Summer Triangle, composed of Vega, Altair, and Deneb. Vegaspins so quickly it bulges. However, we see it pole-on, so it looks circular.

9

2.9

2.9 x 10^9

2.9 million kilometers

Procyon

Did you know that over the next 10 millionyears, Procyon will grow to 100 times its current diameter and become red?This is because Procyon's hydrogen is now all helium. The Sun will do thesame thing in a couple billion years.

9

2.6

2.6 x 10^9

2.6 million kilometers

Altair

Altair is one of the three stars in the SummerTriangle. The Summer Triangle is an acute triangle, which means that all theangles are less than 90°! The other two are Vega and Deneb. Like many otherstars, Altair spins very quickly, bulging at the center!

9

2.5

2.5 x 10^9

Phospholipid

Phospholipids are beautifully amazing littlemolecules, and you have millions of millions of millions of them in yourbody. Phospholipids are actually a special type of lipid that make up cellmembranes.

9

2.5

2.5 x 10^9

2.5 million kilometers

Sirius A

Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky.It is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the second brightest star. However,Sirius is not a large star. It only appears bright because it is close to us,at only eight light-years away.

9

1.5

1.5 x 10^9

1.5 million kilometers

Alpha Centauri A

Alpha Centauri A is the largest star of theAlpha Centauri star system (composed of three stars), which is the closeststar system to us. It is also the fourth brightest star in the night sky.

9

1.4

1.4 x 10^9

1.4 million kilometers

The Sun

Also known as Sol, the Sun is what gives Earththe energy that makes it able to have life. The Sun is over 100 times largerin diameter than Earth! 20,000 times more solar energy hits the Earth thanthe human race uses. However, some stars are even larger and more luminous.

9

1

1 x 10^9

1 million kilometers

Alpha Centauri B

Alpha Centauri B is the second largest star inthe Alpha Centauri star system. Its diameter is approximately one millionkilometers, so it is slightly smaller than the Sun. Alpha Centuari A & Bare so close they appear as a single star to us Earthlings.

9

1

Gigameter (Gm) (Diameter)

Gigameter (Gm) (Diameter)

8

9.6

9.6 x 10^8

960,000 kilometers

Gliese 229A

Gliese 229A is a red dwarf star. It is a bitsmaller than the Sun. The red dwarf star is also written as GJ 229 or GI 229.It is part of a binary star system, the second star being Gliese 229B.

8

4.2

4.2 x 10^8

420,000 kilometers

Kapteyn's Star

Kapteyn's Star is only thirteen light-yearsaway. Even so, its magnitude is +9, so you need binoculars to see it. Around10,000 years ago, Kapteyn's Star was only seven light-years away!

8

4.2

4.2 x 10^8

420,000 kilometers

Luyten's Star

Luyten's Star is a red dwarf star 12light-years away from us. It is so close to Procyon that Procyon would appear10 times brighter to Luyten's Star than Sirius appears to us. Also, I don'tknow how to pronounce it. Is it like "Luwee- ten", or"Loy-ten", or "Loo-ten? I just don't know! Help please!

8

3.8

3.8 x 10^8

380,000 kilometers

Distance from Earth to Moon

The Earth and the Moon here are not to scale.If the distance were a meter, Earth would be the size of a quarter, and themoon would be a pea.

8

2.3

2.3 x 10^8

230,000 kilometers

TrES-4

TrES-4 is the largest planet discovered. Notelescope can actually see TrES-4, but there are ways to prove its existenceindirectly. TrES-4's gravity causes the star it orbits to wobble slightly.Also, whenever TrES-4 goes in front of the star, the shine of the star dims alittle.

8

2

2 x 10^8

200,000 kilometers

Proxima Centauri

Proxima Centauri is known as being the closeststar to Earth other than the Sun. Its name comes from the word"proximity". Proxima Centauri is a small red star. Unfortunately,it is so dim, you need a telescope to see it.

8

1.5

1.5 x 10^8

150,000 kilometers

Wolf 359

Wolf 359 is a small red dwarf, dwarfed bynormal stars. It is the sixth closest star to Earth, after the Sun, ProximaCentauri, Alpha Centauri A & B and Barnard's star. Still, its magnitudeis a dim +13.5.

8

1.4

1.4 x 10^8

140,000 kilometers

Jupiter

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solarsystem. However, it is not the largest known planet. That's TrES-4. Jupiteris a gas giant, so it's just a ball of gas. You can't land anywhere on it.Also, Jupiter has 64 moons, including the four Gallilean moons.

8

1.2

1.2 x 10^8

120,000 kilometers

Saturn

Saturn has the widest, most visible rings ofthe Solar System. Galileo, who was the first person to see these rings, firstthought they were "ears". Can you imagine a Saturn without rings?It would be just a yellow ball.

8

1.1

1.1 x 10^8

110,000 kilometers

Gliese 229B

Gliese 229B is a brown dwarf star. It orbits alarger dwarf star, which is Gliese 229A. Gliese 229B would be classified as aplanet, but it is much denser than Jupiter, making its mass too large to beconsidered a planet.

7

6.4

6.4 x 10^7

64,000 kilometers

Minecraft World

Stretching from the coordinates +32,000,000 to-32,000,000, the Minecraft world spans a total of 64,000 kilometers. Thisworld has approximately 130 quadrillion blocks in it! That sure is a lot!

7

5.1

5.1 x 10^7

51,000 kilometers

Uranus

A lot of people like to think"Uranus" sounds like "your anus". There are many other,and better, pronunciations. Uranus can also be pronouced like"Yer-uh-niss" or "Seh-venth-pla-net".

7

4.9

4.9 x 10^7

49,000 kilometers

Neptune

Currently, Neptune is the farthest planet inthe Solar System from the Sun. It takes 164.8 Earth years for it to orbit theSun. You'll never see Neptune complete a single orbit in your whole life,unless life expectancies increase.

7

2

2 x 10^7

20,000 kilometers

Sirius B

Sirius B is a white dwarf. It's barely biggerthan the Earth! It's usually pretty hard to see because it is hidden bySirius A's blinding light. Sirius B is known as "The Pup".

7

1.27

1.27 x 10^7

12,700 kilometers

Earth

The Earth is our only home. While living onit, we may consider it huge, but it is still important to take care of it.When it is gone, there will be nowhere else left to go.

7

1.2

1.2 x 10^7

12,000 kilometers

Venus

There was a time when Venus and Earth werethought to be sister planets. That isn't true at all! Venus's surfacetemperature is always above 450° C, because its atmosphere, which is mostlycarbon dioxide, traps the Sun's heat!

7

1

Total Human Height

If all the 7 billion humans stood on top ofone another, and the bottom 6.99 billion humans didn't crumple under all theweight, the stack would be approximately 10 million kilometers tall.

6

8.85

8.85 x 10^6

8,850 kilometers

Great Wall of China, actual(curving) length

The Great Wall of China is 8,850 kilometers inlength. However, it twists and turns, so the distance from the endpoints isactually only 2,900 kilometers. Oh, and another thing. The Great Wall ofChina is not visible from space. It's less than 10 meters wide! Most housesare wider than that!

6

8

8 x 10^6

8,000 kilometers

Asia

Asia is the Earth's largest continent, holdingover four billion people – over half of the world's population. Africa is thesecond most populous continent, but only has one billion people.

6

6.8

6.8 x 10^6

6,800 kilometers

Mars

Mars is known as the Red Planet. It is redbecause it is rusty. Many people believe water and life once existed on Mars.However, even if that is true, the life wouldn't be like the little greenmen.

6

5.3

5.3 x 10^6

5,300 kilometers

Ganymede

Ganymede is the largest moon in the SolarSystem. It orbits Jupiter and was discovered by Galileo, which makes it aGalilean moon. Also, Ganymede is not to be confused with Ganymed, which is anasteroid whose name doesn't have the final "e"!

6

5.2

5.2 x 10^6

5,200 kilometers

Titan

Titan is Saturn's only large moon. It has avery thick atmosphere, which is made up of mostly nitrogen. Earth'satmosphere is also mostly nitrogen. Titan has seas of liquid methane. (It'saround -180° C.) There's even a continent called "Xanadu".

6

4.9

4.9 x 10^6

4,900 kilometers

Mercury

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. Ithas no atmosphere. During the day, temperatures reach 400° C, but at night,the temperatures fall to -180° C. One Mercurian year is 88 Earth days.

6

4.8

4.8 x 10^6

4,800 kilometers

Callisto

Callisto is the most distant of the Gallileanmoons. It orbits outside all the other Gallilean moons and gets hit with themost meteors. All these impacts create many, many craters.

6

4.2

4.2 x 10^6

4,200 kilometers

U. S. A.

Here is the U. S. A. Although it may seem tobe larger than Pluto, Pluto has a back face, which means Pluto has moresurface area!

6

3.6

3.6 x 10^6

3,600 kilometers

Io

Io has a lot of volcanoes. It is the mostvolcanic thing in the Solar System! Io's geysers emit frozen sulfur dioxideup to 500 kilometers into space! The landscape of Io is constantly changing.In one year, it will look very different!

6

3.5

3.5 x 10^6

3,500 kilometers

The Moon

The Moon, also known as "Luna", isthe brightest object in the night sky. It orbits Earth every 27 days, 7 hoursand 43 minutes. I like to imagine seeing several moons scattered across thenight sky. That would be amazing!

6

3.1

3.1 x 10^6

3,100 kilometers

Europa

Europa is the puniest of the Galilean moons.It is covered with ice. There are mysterious streaks that cover the moon'ssurface. Some people believe water might exist beneath the layer of ice,possibly even holding life.

6

2.9

2,900 kilometer

Great Wall of China, straightlength

The Great Wall of China is 8,850 kilometers inlength. However, it twists and turns, so the distance from the endpoints isactually only 2,900 kilometers. Oh, and another thing. The Great Wall ofChina is not visible from space. It's less than 10 meters wide! Most housesare wider than that!

6

2.7

2.7 x 10^6

2,700 kilometers

Triton

Triton is Neptune's largest moon. It is alsothe coldest object in the Solar System, at -240° C. Triton is also a verywindy place, with winds going at almost the speed of sound!

6

2.3

2.3 x 10^6

2,300 kilometers

Pluto

Pluto used to be a planet, but now it's not.Why do people feel sympathy for it? It has no feelings. And if it did, whywould it care about what the people way over on Earth thought about it? Onanother note, Pluto's official name is now "134340 Pluto", becauseit is a dwarf planet.

6

1.8

1.8 x 10^6

1,800 kilometers

Sedna

Sedna has a very elliptical orbit. It is sofar away it takes 10,000 Earth years to complete one orbit. You probablyrealized that "Sedna" backwards is "Andes", the world'slongest mountain range. (It's in South America.) Both may seem other-worldly!

6

1.3

1.3 x 10^6

1,300 kilometers

Quaoar

Quaoar is very dense. Its core is very big.Quaoar may have been much larger long ago. It might have been hit by anobject the size of Pluto, which would have stripped away the outer layers.

6

1.2

1.2 x 10^6

1,200 kilometers

California

California is nicknamed "The GoldenState". That's why it's colored golden. California is home to 37 millionpeople, which is less than one percent of the world's population.

6

1.2

1.2 x 10^6

1,200 kilometers

Charon

Charon is Pluto's only large moon. They arevery close in size. They are so close, some people consider Pluto and Charonto be a double planet. Did you know the same side of Charon always facesPluto, and the same side of Pluto always faces Charon?

6

1.2

1.2 x 10^6

1,200 kilometers

Texas

Texas is the only state to have the same rankin both population and land area, which is second. If Puerto Rico were to becounted, Mississippi would rank in 32nd in both catergories, but it's not,because Puerto Rico is not a state.

6

1.1

1.1 x 10^6

1,100 kilometers

Italy

Italy was the home to Leonardo Da Vinci, whowas an inventor, mathematician, engineer, painter, sculptor, scientist,musician, and much more. Many other painters, including Raphael andMichelangelo, were also from Italy.

6

1

10^6^ x 2.4

2,400 kilometers

Eris

Eris is the largest dwarf planet. It is evenbigger than Pluto, which is also a dwarf planet. Eris is further from the Sunthan Pluto. Eris has a moon, and that's Dysnomia. Where's Dysnomia? It's downthere.

6

1

Megameter (Mm) (Diameter)

Megameter (Mm) (Diameter)

5

9.5

9.5 x 10^5

950 kilometers

Ceres

Ceres is not a very good place for humans tolive. Ceres is also the largest asteroid, and began the debate over thedefinition of "planet". For a time, Ceres was considered a planet,but then it wasn't.

5

4.5

4.5 x 10^5

450 kilometers

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is one of the largest canyonson Earth. It was carved by the Colorado River. All that carving took around17 million years! The layers of rock exposed were even older, some as old as1.8 billion years old!

5

4

4 x 10^5

400 kilometers

West Virginia

West Virginia used to be part of Virginia.They split in 1863 because the Civil War. Now, West Virginia is still astate! A lot of glass marbles are made in West Virginia.

5

2.4

2.4 x 10^5

240 kilometers

Rwanda

Rwanda is a country in eastern- central Africaand is known as "The Land of a Thousand Hills". Did you know thatRwanda as a country ranks 148th in land area? That means there are only 147countries larger than it.

5

1.5

1.5 x 10^5

150 kilometers

Dysnomia

Dysnomia is Eris's only moon and wasdiscovered on September 10, 2005, which was a Saturday. Also, did you knowthat "Dysnomia" also refers to a learning disability that issimilar to dyslexia?

5

1.2

1.2 x 10^5

120 kilometers

Brunei

Brunei is a country in Southeast Asia. It issurrounded completely by Malaysia and the South China Sea. 400,000 peoplelive in this country. They drive on the left side of the road.

5

1

1 x 10^5

100 kilometers

Hydra

Hydra is one of Pluto's moons. It's namedafter the seven-headed serpent from Greek mythology. Of course, Hydra willgrow two heads if you cut one off. If you want Hydra to have n heads, all youhave to do is cut off n-7 heads! However, this will not work if you want lessthan seven.

4

8

8 x 10^4

80 kilometers

Nix

Nix is the smallest known moon of Pluto. Itsname is the second shortest name of a moon, the shortest being Io. The namecomes from the primordial Greek goddess Nyx, who was the night.

4

7.5

7.5 x 10^4

75 kilometers

Rhode Island

Rhode Island is the smallest state in the U.S. A. However, it could still fit the world's population on it. Did you knowthat Rhode Island has the longest official state name? (The State of RhodeIsland and Providence Plantations)

4

4.22

4.22 x 10^4

42.2 kilometers

Marathon

A marathon is 42.2 kilometers, or 26.2 miles.About one thousandth of Americans have run a marathon. According to legend,after a Greek victory in the Battle of Marathon, Pheidippides was sent toAthens to tell the news. The distance was a marathon!

4

2.4

2.4 x 10^4

24 kilometers

Neutron Star

Neutron stars are made of tightly packedneutrons. As a result, they are extremely dense. One milliliter of neutronstar material weighs 500 billion kilograms! (That's about the weight of allhumans combined.)

4

2.3

2.3 x 10^4

23 kilometers

Phobos

Phobos is the larger of the two Martian moons.Still, it is quite small! Did you know that if you were standing on Phobos,its gravity would be so weak that you could throw a baseball and it wouldn'tcome back down?

4

1.3

1.3 x 10^4

13 kilometers

Deimos

Deimos is one of the smallest moons known. Youcould walk around it in a day! Of course, you'd have to wear a space suit tosurvive in the vacuum of space. I don't think you could walk as fast in aspace suit, though.

4

1.1

1.1 x 10^4

11 kilometers

Halley's Comet

The actual size of Halley's Comet is quitesmall. The tail that it forms can be millions of kilometers in length!Halley's comet loses 10% of its mass for every thousand orbits.

4

1.09

1.09 x 10^4

10.9 kilometers

Depth of the Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench is a pretty deep trench. Itis in the Pacific Ocean, and its human population is zero. Did you know thatthis lovely trench has been proposed as a site for dumping nuclear waste?That's a deep topic!

3

8.8

8.8 x 10^3

8.8 kilometers

Mount Everest

Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on Earthat 8,848 meters. It is constantly growing, like children do. Not many peoplecan climb it without using an oxygen tank.

3

8.6

8.6 x 10^3

8.6 kilometers

Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider is the world'slargest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It smashes protons into eachother! That's really mean, like the bullies at school that smash the littlechildren together.

3

8

8 x 10^3

8 kilometers

Palm Jebel Ali

Palm Jebel Ali is the largest man-made island(not including islands like Flevopolder, where a region of the Netherlandswas drained so there could be more land). Palm Jebel Ali is not complete. Itis part of the Palm Islands and is planned to house 250,000 people!

3

5

5 x 10^3

5 kilometers

Cruithne

Cruithne is known as Earth's second moon. Itactually isn't Earth's moon. It just follows an elliptical orbit around theSun that is near Earth's orbit, and its year is 364 days, close to Earth'syear.

3

4

4 x 10^3

4 kilometers

Central Park

Central Park, which is in New York City, isthe most visited urban park in the United States! Did you know that 18 peopleactually live in Central Park? That's pretty cool!

3

3

3 x 10^3

3 kilometers

Uluru

Uluru, which is also known as Ayers Rock, is arock. At 348 meters tall, it is shorter than many buildings. However, it isthree kilometers in length, making it longer than all buildings.

3

1

1 x 10^3

1 kilometer

AM Radio Wavelength

A and M are the first and thirteenth lettersof the alphabet. One is a perfect square, while thirteen is not. We all haveour differences, and we have to learn to accept them. That's the only waywe'll live in harmony.

3

1

1 x 10^3

1 kilometer

Boeing Everett Factory

The Boeing Everett Factory, with 13 millioncubic meters of usable space, is the largest building in the world. The GreatWall of China and the Three Gorges Dam do not qualify as buildings.

3

1

Kilometer (m) (Diameter)

Kilometer (m) (Diameter)

2

9.79

9.79 x 10^2

979 meters

Angel Falls

Angel Falls is the tallest waterfall in theworld. It is Venezuela's top tourist attraction. Most of the water evaporatesinto mist before hitting the ground. That's too bad. Or is it good? It'sgood.

2

8.28

8.28 x 10^2

828 meters

Burj Khalifa

Burj Khalifa, which used to be called the BurjDubai, is the tallest building in the world. No other building is taller than828,000 millimeters tall. There's a swimming pool on the 76th floor.

2

8

8 x 10^2

800 meters

Vatican City

Vatican City is the smallest country. It,although very small, is larger than you are. If you were to stretch yourflesh over Vatican City so that it was spread evenly, the coating would beabout 200 nanomaters thick, which is less than even a single skin cell!

2

4.1

4.1 x 10^2

410 meters

Half Dome, Yosemite

Half Dome is a large dome that is in YosemiteNational Park. It is made up of granite. The steep side of the dome is almostvertical. Don't fall off that side unless you want to. Some people like toclimb it, even though it is very challenging!

2

3.2

3.2 x 10^2

320 meters

Eiffel Tower

For 41 years, the Eiffel Tower was the tallestman-made structure in the world. 200 million people have been to the EiffelTower, which is almost the population of the U.S.A.!

2

2.7

2.7 x 10^2

270 meters

Titanic

The Titanic sank when it hit an iceberg.Although it was capable of holding enough lifeboats for 4,000 people, theydecided they only needed enough lifeboats for 1,178 people. There were 3,547people on the Titanic.

2

2.2

2.2 x 10^2

220 meters

Hoover Dam

2

1.92

1.92 x 10^2

192 meters

Gateway Arch

The Gateway Arch is the tallest structure inSt. Louis. There is an observation area at the very top, and from it, you cansee the Mississippi River. You should go visit it sometime in the nearfuture!

2

1.69

1.69 x 10^2

169 meters

Washington Monument

The Washington Monument is the world's tallestobelisk, as well as the world's tallest stone structure. It was the world'stallest structure from 1884 to 1889. After that it was the Eiffel Tower,which is to the upper-right. The Washington Monument is not the world'stallest column - that's the San Jacinto Monument.

2

1.5

1.5 x 10^2

150 meters

The Great Pyramid of Giza

This picture is actually of the GizaNecropolis. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the pyramid on the left. It is theoldest one, built by the Egyptians in 2560 BC. It was the tallest man-madestructure for almost 4,000 years.

2

1.1

1.1 x 10^2

110 meters

Saturn V

2

1.097

1.097 x 10^2

109.7 meters

Football Field

American football fields are 120 yards (109.7m) long, if end zones are included. Anyway, football fields are often usedfor measuring large objects. For example, "The Titanic is almost threefootball fields long!" Oh, and another thing – Football fields are alsoused for playing football.

2

1.08

1.08 x 10^2

108 meters

International Space Station

The International Space Station is prettycool. It floats around in low Earth orbit, and you can even see it fromEarth! The ISS has had humans within it continuously for the last elevenyears, which is a record for a spacecraft. (They weren't all the samehumans.)

2

1

1 x 10^2

100 meters

Redwood Tree

The redwood tree is the tallest tree in theworld. Its height, combined with that of an ant's, is greater than anyhuman's! However, the universe is still 10 25 times larger.

1

9.3

9.3 x 10^1

93 meters

Statue of Liberty

Although the Statue of Liberty is a symbol ofAmerica, it was actually built in France. It was based off of an ancientstatue of the Greek Sun god Helios. The Statue of Liberty is pretty cool,even though the torch has been closed since 1916 because it is dangerous.

1

6.5

6.5 x 10^1

65 meters

Boeing 747

The Boeing 747, which flies, is an airplane.Since 1969, it's been shorter than a redwood tree. Before then, it didn'texist, so it wasn't shorter or longer. And yes, its wingspan is longer thanthe Wright brother's first flight (37 meters).

1

6

6 x 10^1

60 meters

Amphilicoelias fragilimus

Amphilicoelias fragilimus was the largestdinosaur ever! It weighed over 100 tons! It's so big you could build yourhouse on top of it if you wanted to!

1

3

3 x 10^1

30 meters

Blue Whale

The blue whale is the largest animal there is.Its weight, which is 180 metric tons, is greater than any other animal's.Unfortunately, whaling has lowered the blue whale's population from 300,000to 2,000.

1

1.5

1.5 x 10^1

15 x 10 meters

Average U.S. House

These houses of the United States have beengetting larger. In the last 40 years, the average house has almost doubled inarea! These houses are so large, you could fit 1,000 people in them! It wouldbe pretty cramped, though.

1

1.5

1.5 x 10^1

15 meters

Oak Tree

The oak tree is a tree. They can live a verylong time, longer than even a human can! Oak trees produce thousands ofacorns a year. Acorns are good. Almost as good as ice cubes.

1

1.4

1.4 x 10^1

14 meters

Saguaro Cactus

0

9

9 x 10^0

9 meters

Apollo Lunar Module

This thing weighs 15,000 kilograms! That's alot! It also landed on the Moon. Its landing inspired the arcade game"Lunar Lander", which is not easy. When I play, I always run out offuel!

0

7

7 x 10^0

7 meters

Tyrannosaurus Rex

This dinosaur is now extinct, but it used tobe to 7 meters long. It is still being debated whether the T- Rex was apredator or a scavenger. Although the T-Rex was very large, it was not thelargest! Zoom out a bit to see the largest dinosaur!

0

6

Giraffe

The giraffe is the tallest land mammal at amind-boggling 6 meters! Its neck alone is almost half of its entire height.Adult giraffes are so tall that the only way for predators to kill them is topush them onto their side!

0

5

5 x 10^0

5 meters

Elephant

The elephant is the largest land animal. Onlythree species of elephants remain. They can weigh up to 8 tons, which isabout 10 times the weight any human has ever achieved!

0

3

3 x 10^0

3 meters

Giant Earthworm

The giant earthworm can grow up to threemeters long. When baby giant earthworms hatch from their cocoons, they areonly twenty centimeters long. They take five years to reach their fulllength. They burrow underground and make gurgling noises.

0

3

3 x 10^0

3 meters

Japanese Spider Crab

The Japanese Spider Crab is the largestarthropod. However, not all Japanese Spider Crabs get to be this size. Someare only one meter across. Unfortunately, fishermen have killed many of them.That's a lot of crab meat!

0

3

3 x 10^0

3 meters

Marathon

The Wandering Albatross is the bird with thelargest wingspan! They fly almost all the time, only stopping to eat and makebabies. Their population is slowly decreasing. Now it is only at 26,000,which isn't very much.

0

2.5

2.5 x 10^0

2.5 meters

Sunflower

Did you know that the "flower" of asunflower is not a single flower, but actually a flower head made up ofthousands of small flowers? These small flowers are called florets. Theflorets in the center become sunflower seeds, which are currently invisibleat this scale.

0

1.7

1.7 x 10^0

1.7 meters

Human

I'm going to assume you are a human. I am ahuman too! Did you know that there are over 7 billion of us? That's a lot. Infact, if you met each person for one second, it would take you about 200years to meet all of them! Better get started now!

0

1

1 x 10^0

1 meter

Dodo Bird

The dodo bird went extinct sometime during the1600s. The name comes from the sound they make (or should I say used to makesince they're now extinct). So yeah, they're gone.

0

1

1 x 10^0

1 meter

FM Radio Wavelength

F and M are the sixth and thirteenth lettersof the alphabet. Six is a perfect number, while thirteen is not. We all haveour differences, and we have to learn to accept them. That's the only waywe'll live in harmony.

0

1

Meter (m) (Diameter)

Meter (m) (Diameter)

0

1

1 x 10^0

1 meter

Rafflesia

The rafflesia is the largest single flower inthe world. It can weigh up to 10 kilograms, which is actually pretty heavy.The flower smells like rotting flesh to attract flies, which will pollinateit.

-1

8

8 x 10^-1

80 centimeters

Beach ball

Beach balls were invented in 1938, which wasover 70 years ago. Beach balls are also colorful. In addition, they are veryfun! The only beach ball that isn't fun is the beach ball of death.

-1

3

3 x 10^-1

30 centimeters

Inch Ruler

For all of you people not accustomed to themetric system, here's an inch ruler, which is approximately one foot long.Unfortunately, almost everything else is in the metric system.

-1

2.5

2.5 x 10^-1

25 centimeters

Russell's Teapot

Bertrand Russell said that there was a teapotorbiting the Sun between Earth and Mars. No one could disprove him becausesuch a teapot would not be visible. Therefore, no one should ever doubtRussell. This was used as an analogy comparing the existence of God.

-1

2.4

2.4 x 10^-1

24 centimeters

Basketball

This basketball is probably a size 7basketball, because a size 6 basketball is only 23 centimeters in diameter.This basketball, which is very round, is often pushed through a hoop.

-1

2

2 x 10^-1

20 centimeters

Approximate size of thisviewport

Although different monitors have differentpixel sizes, things on the screen are approximately the same size. This isapproximately 20 centimeters across!

-1

2

2 x 10^-1

20 centimeters

Largest Hailstone

The largest hailstone was found in SouthDakota. However, most hailstones don't even come close to this size. Theaverage diameter is a measly centimeter. Oh, I would also like to point outthat not all hailstones are round.

-1

1

1 x 10^-1

10 centimeters

Hummingbird

Hummingbirds flap their wings 12-80 times persecond, which is about the same frequency as the lowest notes on the piano.They can also fly backwards and hover in mid-air. Amazing skills!

-1

1

1 x 10^-1

10 centimeters

Shrew

Shrews are great little thingies. Theirmetabolism rate is so high they must eat their body weight every single day!Also, 10% of their body weight is their brain. That's the highest of anyanimal's, including humans!

-2

5.5

5.5 x 10^-2

5.5 centimeters

Chicken Egg

The chicken egg is where baby chicks usuallyhatch. Many humans love to eat chicken eggs. Besides appearance, there is nodifference between white chicken eggs and brown chicken eggs.

-2

5

5 x 10^-2

5 centimeters

Matchstick

The matchstick is a very useful little tool.When struck against something, it can light on fire. This makes it verydangerous! That's why it's good to never play with matches. Got that?

-2

4

4 x 10^-2

4 centimeters

Common Earthworm

Don't you just love wriggly, slimy earthworms?Despite the urban legends, most species of earthworms will die if you cutthem in half. Sometimes, the head will survive and grow a new tail. But thetail will die.

-2

3

3 x 10^-2

3 centimeters

Quail Egg

Many people think that quail eggs are betterthan chicken eggs. The quail egg is smaller and more rare than the chickenegg, but that doesn't stop some people from loving them!

-2

2.5

2.5 x 10^-2

2.5 centimeters (length of side)

Square Inch

For all of you people not accustomed to themetric system, here's a square inch. Unfortunately for you, almost everythingelse is in the metric system.

-2

1.9

1.9 x 10^-2

1.9 centimeters

U.S. Penny

Did you know that in 1912, the penny was worthwhat the quarter is worth now? Also, if you melt a penny down into zinc andcopper, it would be worth 1.79 cents. That is illegal, so don't do it.

-2

1.5

1.5 x 10^-2

1.5 centimeters

Glass Marble

Glass marbles are round, but they're actuallyquite rough if you look at them under a microscope. This marble is an exampleof a toothpaste marble. For more about glass marbles, see West Virginia.

-2

1

1 x 10^-2

1 centimeter

Coffee Bean

The coffee bean is about one centimeter across- and it's actually a fruit that resembles a bean. It's brown and hasstripes, and sometimes, when you stare at it, you just forget that itsdiameter is 10 -29 of the known universe.

-2

1

1 x 10^-2

1 centimeter

Microwave Wavelength

Actually, the range of microwaves is prettylarge. They range from one millimeter to one meter. So you see, thiselectromagnetic wave, with a wavelength of one centimeter, comfortably fitsinto this range and thus is a microwave!

-3

7

7 x 10^-3

7 millimeters

Sunflower Seed

Sunflower seeds are exhilaratingly delicious.They are so yummy, they can be made into "sunflower seed bread"!Sunflower seeds are not real seeds. They are the fruits of the sunflower!They are only called "seeds" because they resemble other seeds.

-3

5

5 x 10^-3

5 millimeters

Grain of Rice

A lot of people on our beautiful world eatrice. If you eat one bowl of rice per day, you will eat an around 300 milliongrains of rice in your lifetime. That is also approximately the population ofthe United States!

-3

5

5 x 10^-3

5 millimeters

Sleet

-3

4

4 x 10^-3

4 millimeters

Ant

You probably don't like ants. That's too bad.15-25% of all land animals are ants! Whoa! That's a lot of ants! For everyperson on Earth, there are over one million ants!

-3

2

2 x 10^-3

2 millimeters

Duckweed

These are water lentils that float in pondsand other bodies of water. They don't have stems or roots. On the other hand,they do create flowers, which are the smallest of any plant on Earth.

-3

1

Millimeter (mm) (Diameter)

Millimeter (mm) (Diameter)

-4

7.5

7.5 x 10^-4

750 micrometers

Largest Bacteria

The largest bacteria, which is Thiomargaritanamibiensis, is almost one millimeter in length. It lives in the ocean offthe coast of Namibia. Can you imagine being in the ocean, and seeing thesethings? They're very visible!

-4

5

5 x 10^-4

500 micrometers

Grain of Salt

Salt is a compound made of a reactive metaland a toxic gas. Everyone knows that. Also, do not eat too much salt, or elseyou could die. Eating one thousandth of your body weight all at once willusually do the trick.

-4

5

5 x 10^-4

0.5 millimeters

Grain of Sand

Of course, not all grains of sand are the samesize. They vary a lot. Arenophiles are people who collect sand samples. Also,did you know that Papakolea Beach has green sand? This is because of crystalsin the sand. Whatever.

-4

5

5-9 x 10^-4

0.5-0.9 millimeters

Pencil Lead

People use pencil lead a lot. Oh, by the way,this is mechanical pencil lead. On another note, the largest pencil contained2,000 kilograms of graphite. That's about three times heavier than a human!And by human I mean the heaviest human ever.

-4

3

3 x 10^-4

350 micrometers

Amoeba E. coli

E. coli are usually harmless and live in yourintestines, making wonderful vitamin K 2 . They are in almost everyone'sintestines. In fact, they colonize in babies' intestines just two days afterthey are born! Now that's pretty fast!

-4

3

3 x 10^-4

300 micrometers

Dust mite

Dust mites like to eat dust, which youprobably know is just dead skin cells. Many people are allergic to dustmites. Some people are allergic to their poop. Either way, almost all peoplewant to get rid of this pesky pest.

-4

3

3 x 10^-4

300 micrometers

LCD Pixel

Although the size of pixels differs greatly,300 micrometers is about the average. Pixels contain three subpixels that arered, green, and blue. Pixels are pretty cool, but voxels are even better.They are three-dimensional pixels.

-4

2

2 x 10^-4

200 micrometers

Paramecium

Paramecia vary quite a lot in size, but it'susually around 200 mircrometers. These little guys are protists and like toswim in water. They can move two millimeters per second!

-4

1.5

1.5 x 10^-4

150 micrometers

Thickness of Paper

Paper is very thin. It's so thin it can giveyou a paper cut. You can do a lot of things with paper, including writing onit, drawing on it, and even folding it into shapes like squares and trianglesand dodecahedrons and others.

-4

1.2

1.2 x 10^-4

120 micrometers

Red Blood Cell

An ovum, which is the largest cell in thehuman body, has a diameter of about 1/400 th that of a chicken's egg. Animalsthat develop within eggs within their mother are ovoviviparous, which humansare not. Ovoviviparous is the only English word starting with"vowel-v-vowel-v-vowel-v-vowel".

-4

1

1 x 10^-4

100 micrometers

Smallest Thing Visible to theNaked Eye

Just for your information, 100 micrometers isabout the same as one tenth of a millimeter. Hold on... it's EXACTLY onetenth of a millimeter. Now that is so exact, it's almost scary!

-4

1

1 x 10^-4

100 micrometers

Width of a Human Hair

Human hair is amazing. Straight hair is almostperfectly cylindrical. On the other hand, curly hair is flatter, which allowsto to curl, like a ribbon. Did you know that you probably have 50,000 to200,000 strands of hair on your head? You can count!

-5

5

5 x 10^-5

50 micrometers

Silt Particle

According to the Udden- Wentworth scale, siltparticles vary from the smallest of 1⁄256 mm to the largest of 1/16 mm.This silt particle to the right falls into that range quite well.

-5

3.5

3.5 x 10^-5

35 micrometers

Skin Cell

The outermost layer of skin, which is also theonly visible layer of skin, is made up of dead cells. That's because deadcells are the strongest, and stronger skin provides more protection! Thesecells continuously fall off. In fact, dust is 95% dead skin cells!

-5

2.54

2.54 x 10^-5

25.4 micrometers

Thou

Although the word "thou" is mostcommonly known as being an old form of the word "you", a thou isalso a unit of measurement. It is equal of one thousandth of an inch; infact, that's where it gets its name. THOUsandth. Pretty cool.

-5

1.76

1.76 x 10^-5

17.6 micrometers

Twip, a typographical point

A twip is a twentieth of a typographicalpoint. That means that 12-point font is approximately 240 twips high. Also,TUIP can stand for "The Universe in Perspective", which was an oldname for the Scale of the Universe 2. TUIP and twip are pronounced the same.

-5

1.5

1.5 x 10^-5

15 micrometers

Infrared Wavelength

Things that are extremely rare are"inf-rare". (infinitely rare). Inf-rare is also a verb, meaning"to make inf-rare". (e.g., "John inf-rared the precious foodby eating the last of it.") Infrared light used to be quite common, butone day, a scientist somehow "infrared" it. (By the way, this isnot true.)

-5

1.5

1.5 x 10^-5

15 micrometers

Width of a Silk Fiber

Silk is valuable and can be woven intoclothing, which usually turns out quite soft. Silk is made by silkwormlarvae, which I think are pretty gross. But there's also synthetic silk,which is not made from disgusting creepy-crawlies.

-5

1

1 x 10^-5

10 micrometers

White Blood Cell

These mass murderers are also known asleukocytes. There are many different types of this disease-fighting cell. Themost common type, the neutrophil, has multiple nuclei. The largest type, themacrophage, has a diameter of a whopping 21 μm. That's over double thesize of the neutrophil!

-5

0

2 x 10^-5

20 micrometers

Mist droplet

Mist can reduce visibility a bit. It can alsoreflect light, so that you can see rays of light shining through it. That'spretty cool. If you want to find mist, go to the coast or the mountains. Mistis more common there.

-6

8

8 x 10^-6

8 micrometers

Chloroplast

Plant use chloroplasts to turn the Sun'senergy into chemical energy, which is stored in glucose molecules!Chloroplasts are also what give plants their green color, because they havefabulous chlorophyll inside their thylakoid membranes.

-6

7

7 x 10^-6

7 micrometers

Cell nucleus

Nuclei are pretty cool, and they can be foundwithin all eukaryotic cells. (Human cells are eukaryotic.) The nucleus iswhere all the DNA is. During mitosis, the DNA will condense into chromosomes,and then the cell will split in two.

-6

7

7 x 10^-6

7 micrometers

Red Blood Cell

Around one quarter of all human cells are redblood cells. They circulate through one cycle every 20 seconds, and only livearound four months. The reason for the dent is to allow for more surfacearea, which means it's easier to transport oxygen. Oh, and they have nonucleus.

-6

4

4 x 10^-6

4 micrometers

Mitochondrion

These organelles can turn the chemical energyfrom glucose into ATP, which can easily be used for energy. About120,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ATP molecules are created every day inyour body by mitochondria.

-6

4

4 x 10^-6

4 micrometers

X Chromosome

X chromosomes are absolutely wonderful. Mostchromosomes look like X's even if they aren't sex chromosomes – those areautosomes. Females have two X chromosomes while males have an X and a Ychromosome.

-6

2

2 x 10^-6

2 micrometers

Clay Particle

Because clay particles are so small, theybecome tightly packed, and water particles have trouble flowing through it.On the other hand, sand is much more coarse. Water just slips right throughsand. Easy-peasy.

-6

1.5

1.5 x 10^-6

1.5 micrometers

Y Chromosome

The Y chromosome, a sex chromosome, appearsonly in males. Did you know that the Y chromosome is continuing to shrink asit evolves, and will possibly disappear completely? I find that to be veryfascinating!

-6

1

Micrometer (µm) (Diameter)

Micrometer (µm) (Diameter)

-7

7.5

7.5 x 10^-7

750 nanometers

Red Light Wavelength

Red is the first color of the rainbow. Itstimulates appetite. That's why so many food companies have red in theirlogo. They want you to eat! In short, they're trying to fool your brain.

-7

4.4

4.4 x 10^-7

440 nanometers

Largest virus

The largest virus known used to be theMimivirus, whose name I like, but it is now the Megavirus, whose name I alsolike. However, I do not like the viruses themselves. Did you know that inaddition to being the largest, Megavirus is the virus with the longestgenome?

-7

4

4 x 10^-7

400 nanometers

Mimivirus

This little thingy was discovered in 1992within an amoeba, which is only 500 times larger. Mimivirus used to be thelargest virus known, but now that is the Megavirus.

-7

4

4 x 10^-7

400 nanometers

Violet Light Wavelength

Also known as mauve, purple, or even regalia,violet, which can be called lavender, periwinkle or iris, and sometimes evenamethyst or eggplant, is also referred to as fuchsia, indigo or lilac, and onrare occasions, byzantium, thistle, wisteria, fandango and heliotrope.

-7

2

2 x 10^-7

Bacteriophage

The bacteriophage, or just "phage"for short, is a type of bacteria-infecting virus. I think they look likerobots, not life forms. But it also could be argued that viruses are notalive at all.

Gamma rays have a very high frequency. Theycan come from radioactive decay. Oh, and by the way, it's not actually lightblue as it appears to the left.

-8

9

9 x 10^-8

90 nanometers

HIV

HIV infects 0.6% of the world's population andcauses AIDS. Although a single HIV virus is very small, in fact, so smallthat not a single human being on the face of this planet can see it withtheir naked eye, it can still kill.

-8

6

6 x 10^-8

60 nanometers

Ultraviolet Light Wavelength

Ultraviolet light can give you a tan. I usedto think the sunlight and heat burnt your skin to make it darker, like how abarbecue grill turns all of the food black. Now I know that's not true.

-8

4.2

4.2 x 10^-8

42 nanometers

Hepatitis B Virus

Hepatitis B infects a lot of humans. In fact,almost one third of the world population has been infected at some point.This virus causes vomiting, liver inflammation, and possibly death.

-8

2.5

2.5 x 10^-8

25 nanometers

Transistor Gate

Transistors in computers are continuing to getsmaller. In 1971, they were 400 times larger at 10 micrometers. Now we aredown to 25 nanometers, but in the future, they might be even smaller. Howsmall will they get?

-8

1.7

1.7 x 10^-8

17 nanometers

Porcine circovirus

The Porcine circovirus is one of the smallestviruses. It only requires three proteins to replicate. If you considerviruses to be alive, then the Porcine circovirus is the smallest livingthing. However, most people agree that viruses are not alive.

-9

5

5 x 10^-9

5 nanometers

Phospholipid Bilayer

Cell membranes are made of phospholipidbilayers. Phospholipid bilayers can form naturally because the heads attractto water and the tails repel from water. As a result, tails clump together,forming the bilayer.

-9

3

3 x 10^-9

Width: 3 nanometers

DNA

DNA, which is a nucleic acid, stores thegenetic information of almost all living things on Earth (except for someviruses.) A single human cell contains 3 meters of deoxyribonucleic acid.That DNA, while being only a few nanometers across, holds around 25,000 genesin around 3 billion base pairs. That is a lot!

-9

1

1 x 10^-9

1 nanometer

Buckyball

Buckyballs, which are also calledBuckminsterfullerenes, are made of 60 carbon atoms. The shape it forms is atruncated icosahedron, which is also the shape of a soccer ball! A solutionmade completely out of buckyballs is purple.

-9

1

1 x 10^-9

1 nanometer

Carbon Nanotube

Carbon nanotubes are the strongest materialyet discovered. As another bonus, they're lightweight. As a result, nanotubeshave a lot of potential applications, including buildings, batteries, solarpanels, and possibly even a space elevator.

-9

1

Nanometer (nm) (Diameter)

Nanometer (nm) (Diameter)

-10

8

8 x 10^-10

800 picomters

Glucose

Glucose is a simple sugar. Plants make glucosethrough photosynthesis and turn it into complex sugars. When we (as humans)eat plants or animals that have eaten plants, we eat complex sugars, which webreak down into glucose again, which we use for energy.

-10

5

5 x 10^-10

500 picometers

Alpha Helix

The alpha helix is one of the secondarystructures of proteins. Many proteins have alpha helixes within them.Hemoglobin and myglobin are proteins that are made of about 70% alphahelixes!

-10

5

5 x 10^-10

500 picometers

X-Ray Wavelength

Although X-rays do not have the highestfrequency, it's still a bad idea to bask in them. Don't do it! Usually, youshould have a lead shield. The thicker the lead is, the more protection.However, there will always be a chance some X-rays get through. Thicker leadjust lowers this chance.

-10

3.4

3.4 x 10^-10

340 picometers

Carbon Atom

Carbon is the basis of all life on Earth. Thisis because carbon atoms can create four covalent bonds, which means it canbond in thousands of ways with oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon, and otherelements.

-10

2.8

2.8 x 10^-10

280 picometers

Water Molecule

I like to think that whenever I drink water, Idrink Mickey Mouse heads. Do you, too? Oh, you don't? Well, you should.

-10

2.3

2.3 x 10^-10

500 picometers

Cesium Atom

Atom size is measured by the distance of thenuclei in covalent bonds. The shells don't look actually like this. Cesium isthe largest atom, but its atomic number is not the highest. Why? See HeliumAtom.

-10

1

1 x 10^-10

Length: 100 picometers

Angstrom

An angstrom, which is named after Swedishphysicist Anders Jonas Ångström, is one tenth of a nanometer. The symbol foran angstrom is Å. The angstrom is used to express the size of atoms.

-11

5

5 x 10^-11

50 picometers

Smallest Thing Visible to anElectron Microscope

Electron microscopes allow us to see verysmall things (like atoms) that would otherwise be invisible because they aresmaller than the wavelength of visible light.

-11

3.1

3.1 x 10^-11

31 picometers

Hydrogen Atom

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in theuniverse. It's usually just a proton and a electron! A hydrogen atom is sosmall you can't even see it with your naked eye, even if you try yourhardest.

-11

2.5

2.5 x 10^-11

25 picometers

Helium Atom

Hydrogen atoms are larger than helium atomsbecause more protons in an atom's nucleus pull the electrons in closer.However, additional shells increase the size of the atoms the most. Thelargest atom, Cesium, has the most shells with the fewest electrons.(Francium unmeasured)

-12

1

1 x 10^-12

1 picometer

-12

1

Picometer (pm) (Diameter)

Picometer (pm) (Diameter)

-13

1

100 femtometers

100 femtometers

-14

1.5

1.5 x 10^-14

15 femtometers

Uranium Nucleus

Uranium is the highest natural element. Italso has the largest nucleus of all the natural elements. Uranium-238, themost common isotope of uranium, has a half-life of 4.5 billion years,approximately the time the Earth has existed.

-15

6

6 x 10^-15

6 femtometers

Chlorine Nucleus

The chlorine nucleus has 17 protons. There areusually 18 or 20 neutrons there also! Only rarely are there 19 neutrons. I'mnot sure why that is though. Do you know? Tell me if you do.

-15

5

5 x 10^-15

5 femtometers

Electron

Electrons are so small that their size can'taccurately be measured. The size of an electron varies greatly depending onhow it's measured, whether it's based on the quantum model or, in this case,the classical model.

-15

3

3 x 10^-15

3 femtometers

Helium Nucleus

The helium nucleus is thousands of timessmaller than the atom, like a marble in a football field. The only reasonmatter feels solid is because atoms repel. If atoms didn't repel, everythingwould fall through each other!

-15

1

Femtometer (fm) (Diameter)

Femtometer (fm) (Diameter)

-15

1

1 x 10^-15

1 femtometer

Neutron

Neutrons are found within an atom's nucleus.They are thousands of times smaller than the atom itself. They have two downquarks and one up quark. Therefore, the neutron's charge is -1/3-1/3+2/3 =0.

-15

1

1 x 10^-15

1 femtometer

Proton

Protons are found within an atom's nucleus.They are thousands of times smaller than the atom itself. They have two upquarks and one down quark. Therefore, the proton's charge is +2/3+2/3-1/3 =+1.

-16

1

1 x 10^-16

100 attometers

Lengths shorter than this arenot confirmed.

All the objects that are smaller than this areunmeasured. The sizes that they appear are only estimates. Some things, likequantum foam, are just hypothesized. They aren't fact.

-17

1

1 x 10^-17

10 attometers

Range of the Weak Force

The weak force is one of the four fundamentalforces of nature, and is the weaker of the two nuclear forces. As distancesincreases, its strength decreases. At just 10 attometers, the weak force isso weak it is unmeasurable.

-18

1

Attometer (am) (Diameter)

Attometer (am) (Diameter)

-18

1

1 x 10^-18

1 attometer

Down Quark

There are six flavors of quarks. They are up,down, strange charm, top, and bottom. The smaller a quark is, the more massit has. As a result, the up and down quarks are actually the lightest of thequarks. This down quark has a charge of -1/3.

-18

1

1 x 10^-18

1 attometer

Up Quark

There are six flavors of quarks. They are up,down, strange charm, top, and bottom. The smaller a quark is, the more massit has. As a result, the up and down quarks are actually the lightest of thequarks. This up quark has a charge of +2/3.

-19

4

4 x 10^-19

400 zeptometers

Strange Quark

Strange quarks are very strange. They are 50times as massive as up quarks, but are still smaller! Isn't that strange?Very much so! "Strange matter" is made up of up, down, and strangequarks!

-19

1

1 x 10^-19

100 zeptometers

Charm Quark

The charm quark and the strange quark are thesecond generation of matter. They will quickly decay into up and down quarks,which are the first generation of matter. The charm quark is charming.

-20

3

3 x 10^-20

30 zeptometers

Bottom Quark

The bottom quark is also called the beautyquark, because it is so flawlessly beautiful. It is third generation andquickly decays into first generation quarks, like up and down.

-21

1

Zeptometer (zm) (Diameter)

Zeptometer (zm) (Diameter)

-22

1

1 x 10^-22

100 yoctometers

Top Quark

The top quark is the smallest quark, whichmeans it is the most massive. It is almost 100,000 times as massive as the upquark, which is the lightest of the quarks. The top quark's mass is 173billion electronvolts!

-23

1

10 yoctometers

10 yoctometers

-24

1

1 x 10^-24

1 yoctometer

High Energy Neutrino

Neutrinos passes through ordinary matter likeyou and me all the time! In fact, they're doing it right now! Neutrinos haveno charge, so they are only affected by gravity and the weak force. However,they are so small that they are barely affected.

-24

1

Yoctometer (ym) (Diameter)

Yoctometer (ym) (Diameter)

-25

1

0.1 yoctometers

0.1 yoctometers

-26

1

0.01 yoctometers

0.01 yoctometers

-27

1

0.001 yoctometers

0.001 yoctometers

-28

1

0.0001 yoctometers

0.0001 yoctometers

-29

1

0.00001 yoctometers

0.00001 yoctometers

-30

1

0.000001 yoctometers

0.000001 yoctometers

-31

1

0.0000001 yoctometers

0.0000001 yoctometers

-32

1

0.00000001 yoctometers

0.00000001 yoctometers

-33

1

0.000000001 yoctometers

0.000000001 yoctometers

-34

1

0.0000000001 yoctometers

0.0000000001 yoctometers

-35

1.6

1.6 x 10^-35

0.000000000016 yoctometers

Planck Length

The planck length (ℓp) is a unit oflength. There is also a planck time, which is the amount of time it takeslight to travel one planck length in a vacuum. (Super short!)

-35

1

1 x 10^-35

0.00000000001 yoctometers

String

According to the string theory, strings areone-dimensional, but vibrates in all the other dimensions. This string,however, is not the same string that is used for flying kites. That string isbetween 10 32 and 10 33 times larger.

Quantum Foam

According to the spacetime theory, quantumfoam, which is also known as spacetime foam, is the foundation of the fabricof the universe. It is impossible to directly observe or measure this becauseit is so small.